MIM: After 20 days of murder and mayhem by rioters shouting "Allahu Akhbar !", the French shown no sign of acknowledging the Islamist threat behind the violence, or blaming Muslims for the killing of an elderly man, the setting alight of a crippled women, and the wanton destruction of social institutions and private property and businesses. Instead of public outrage being focussed on the perpetrators, the French are blaming themselves for failing to accomodate their hostile immigrant (aka Muslim) compatriots, who, despite being born and raised in France, have decided that they are not interested in anything French except for free government handouts.

On the contrary, the French president Jacques Chirac has issued a collective 'mea culpea' and is the government is falling all over themselves in an effort to appease the Islamo facists whom Chirac now refers to as "children of the Republic ".

Even more obscenely, Chirac is demanding that businesses and the police, who were the targets of the Islamo facist violence hire the same Muslims who continue to pose a threat to their lives and livelihoods, in the 'dhimmi' illusion that submitting to their demands will 'neutralise' their rage (!)

In a recent article entited, "Reflections on the Revolution in France" Dr. Daniel Pipes correctly predicted that when the rioting subsided the French would "heave a sigh of relief" and return to "business as usual":

"...The French can respond in three ways. They can feel guilty and appease the rioters with prerogatives and the "massive investment plan" some are demanding. Or they can heave a sigh of relief when it ends and, as they did after earlier crises, return to business as usual. Or they can understand this as the opening salvo in a would-be revolution and take the difficult steps to undo the negligence and indulgence of past decades..." http://www.danielpipes.org/article/3113 Nov. 8, 2005

"...Nov. 14, 2005 update: Well, Jacques Chirac has finally spoken on the rioting and, predictably, he blamed the French state, institutions, and society for the troubles, not the rioters. He not once mentions Muslims or Islam. Not understanding the causes of the problem means the wrong lessons will be learned from it, and things will only get worse. That's another reason why, as I wrote in my column, this "may be a turning point in European history..." http://www.danielpipes.org/

Nov. 15 (Bloomberg) -- French President Jacques Chirac called on companies and political parties to "better reflect" the country's diversity and help fight discrimination, one of the issues at the heart of the recent wave of rioting.

"Companies and labor unions must get mobilized on the essential question of diversity," Chirac said last night in his first speech on the unrest since it began Oct. 27. "I ask leaders of political parties to take their share of responsibility."

Chirac's government wants to extend by three months a state of emergency law introduced Nov. 8 that allows local authorities to impose curfews and restrictions to end unrest. Chirac yesterday vowed to act "firmly" against those involved in the worst public violence in the country since 1968.

Almost 8,600 cars have been torched in the riots that began in a Paris suburb and spread to cities across France. Curfews in some towns and bans on gatherings in Paris and Lyon have brought calm after more than two weeks of violence. About 2,700 people have been arrested.

Three firebombs were thrown at a mosque in St. Chamond, southwest of Lyon, late yesterday, causing some damage, Agence France-Presse reported.

The riots partly reflect tensions in neighborhoods where youth unemployment exceeds 30 percent and where sizeable Muslim communities reside in the largely Catholic country. While the provocation for the riots was the accidental death of two youths fleeing a police check, the violence reflects frustration of immigrants and their descendants who say they face discrimination.

Job Discrimination

A white man with a French first and last name is five times more likely to be called in for a job interview than a man with a Northern African name with a similar resume, according to a 2004 study by sociologist Jean-Francois Amadieu and Adia, a Paris- based human resources consultant and temporary job company.

Chirac said France must acknowledge its diversity and fight discrimination, which "saps the foundation of our republic." He rejected the idea of introducing a quota system, calling it "unfair" for those who aren't able to benefit from it.

`Confusion'

"What's striking is that the president focused on an analysis of the situation more than on measures to solve the issue," Bruno Jeanbart, a deputy director at market research and polling company CSA in Paris. "It shows the confusion of the head of state and of the French society."

National Police Chief Michel Gaudin said yesterday that measures will be taken to change recruitment patterns in the police and hire more people from ethnic minorities, as in countries such as the U.K.

"Our police must mirror the French society," Gaudin said. France, with a population of about 62 million, has one of the largest communities of immigrants of Arab origin in Europe, totaling about 5 million people.

Laurence Parisot, president of Mouvement des Entreprises de France, or Medef, the country's biggest federation, said today in Paris that businesses aren't "specifically" guilty of discrimination.

Medef Comments

Medef will discuss "diversity" with unions by the end of the year, she said. She's not opposed to discussing quotas, which are currently forbidden under French laws.

Medef's local branches will study existing best practices to add employees in poor neighborhoods. Tax exemptions for businesses hiring people in these areas have had mixed success and need to be analyzed, Parisot said. Labor laws in general contribute to France's job creation problem, she said.

"We have social laws which are falsely protective and often hamper the growth potential of our companies," said Parisot. "It might be time to create a firing process which would be less traumatizing both for employees and businesses."

France's jobless rate held at 9.8 percent in September, according to the French government. It held at 9.4 percent, one percentage point higher than in the average of the dozen nations sharing the euro, according to the European Union statistics office, which uses a different method.

Parisot said riots in France resulted in "rather significant damage and some" layoffs, without providing more details. At the same time, she said Medef will tell its foreign counterparts that France's economy is gaining momentum this half to allay foreign investors' potential concerns about the violence.

Medef expects the French economy will grow 1.7 percent this year and at least 2 percent in 2006, Parisot said, in line with the government's estimates. She urged the European Central Bank not to raise its benchmark interest rate, which has held at 2 percent since June 2003.

To contact the reporter on this story
Sandrine Rastello in Paris at [email protected]